Language Learning, Digital Communications and Study Abroad: Identity and Belonging in Translocal Contexts(120 New Perspectives on Language and Education)

This book argues for a view of study abroad as emergent of, and negotiated through, tensions between localised and globalised imaginaries of language, identity and place. By examining the experiences of a group of Japanese high school students during, and after, a year embedded in families and schools abroad in countries across Europe, Asia and North and South America, it provides the first in-depth exploration of the role of mobile communications technology in study abroad. This includes its facilitation of strategic language learning, host community participation and the construction of multilingual identities. The student accounts covered in this book explore a number of other critical issues in contemporary study abroad, including translanguaging practices, racialised identities, the role of the host family and the status of English as a lingua franca in multilingual environments. The results demonstrate the importance of understanding study abroad and related language learning as intersecting with global flows of people and information.

Table of Contents:
Tables and Figures Acknowledgements Transcription Conventions Introduction  Chapter 1. Digital Sociality, Immersion and Translocality Chapter 2. Approach and Participants Chapter 3. Nikko: Translingual Participation In and Beyond Hungary Chapter 4. Nagisa: Tranlocal Ties and Online Identity in Brazil Chapter 5. Megumi: Racialisation and Marginalisation in Germany Chapter 6. Manabu: Negotiating Multilingual Identity in Francophone Canada Chapter 7. Misa: Social Support and Language Learning in the US Midwest Chapter 8. Translocal Language Learning and Belonging During and Beyond Study Abroad References

About the Author :
Levi Durbidge is a Lecturer at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia. He has been involved in language education across the secondary and tertiary sectors for more than two decades in both Australia and Japan. His research explores the intersections of transnational mobility, language learning and digital technology.

Review :
Understandings and discussions of study abroad are thrust into the social media era through these stunning, readable narratives of Japanese adolescents. Revealing experiences of what study abroad now means and how it interconnects with language learning and identity change in digital, social, and material spaces, this book pushes the edge of study abroad research. In today’s social media era, we need a new approach to study abroad research that starts before departure and continues after returning home. Durbidge leads the way in developing conceptual foundations to understand the impact of digital platforms on language learning and friendship development of five Japanese high school students as they study in Europe and North/South America. Anyone interested in conceptualizing social media in study abroad experiences will find this book a most helpful resource. This lively, readable volume, which centres an underrepresented population of Japanese adolescents, offers a welcome update and expansion of the research on language learning in study abroad. It uses an ingenious mixed-methods design and focuses on contemporary communicative settings wherein local and digital affordances are intertwined and call for significant translocal negotiation of interpersonal connections and identity. This book is a fascinating and in-depth analysis of the experiences of a number of Japanese students studying abroad. Beyond just providing incredible detail into how multiple individuals navigated new languages and contexts, the book goes above and beyond by exploring the role of technology in their experiences, and following the same learners back to Japan to see how they reacclimated as “returners” – often to groups/areas where no one else understood their time abroad.  By focusing on Japanese high school students, Durbidge fills a critical gap in the literature and draws attention to a group often overlooked in SA research. The book is an essential resource for all SA stakeholders, leading to further inquiry and enhancing the understanding of international mobility for Japanese students at high school level and beyond.